Looking West
March 8, 2011

As usual, I am up very early and thinking about the cruise. It is about time for some boats to head back to the US and we are starting to plan our return. Last evening Midnight Sun’s crew came by to say farewell. They start West today and will be back in Florida within a few days. It looks like they have chosen an excellent day to do the Whale and get back their first stop, Green Turtle Cay. There are a few other boats we have met that are also heading back in the next week or so. By the time we leave this place, most of them will be gone. What is apparent is that most of the Canadians are looking forward to sailing north early so as to see spring in the northern Latitudes while many American boats are just now planning to come to the islands. Our desire to sail as far north as possible this spring and summer requires us to leave just when the weather and water temperatures are getting really good. We have had wonderful weather on the cool side and the water still requires a shortie wet suit.
We noticed a Canadian boat yesterday that spent the entire winter well south of this place. Marsh Harbor is their final Bahamian landfall. In the next day or so, they will exit the island chain through Whale Channel and sail direct to Virginia or Maryland. That will be several days at sea, much like our passage to Vera Cruz a few years ago. If we did not plan to come back to Texas for April, we too would do a longer passage to get past Charleston, just to kick off Phase IV.
We look forward to the crew of Liberty Call joining us for the passage back to the US. They will arrive on the 20th and that will start a series of island visits as we work our way west toward home. We will offload a great deal of stuff we have found we do not need. We already know Why Knot will be happy to shed the load. We look forward to seeing family and friends back home and we promise that some of the stories we will share have some basis in truth. We also look forward to Pat’s enchiladas, Granzin’s BBQ and the Blue Bonnets. By the time we reach the mainland, Why Knot will have been home to us for well over a thousand days since we purchased her just before Katrina and she will have over 5,000 miles under her keel. That is nothing to most cruisers but it is a start for us.